Deputy General Manager, Business Development and Strategic Planning

Rafael - Missiles & NCW Division

Rafael USA president and CEO Yigal Ben-Hanan said the company was offering a variety of anti-terrorism solutions to the US, including Bradley reactive armor, which has already saved the live of many US soldiers in Iraq, and Sniper Acoustic Detection System (SADS).

It is an all-weather system with a look-down/shoot-down capability, according to Yigal Ben-Hanan, Rafael's director of air-to-air and defense systems.Derby also has a programmable advanced electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) capability.Ben-Hanan said Derby can be operated in two modes.

In response to the US procurement, Rafael USA president and CEO Yigal Ben-Hanan told "Globes" that Rafael and General Dynamics Armaments and Technical Products (GDATP), Rafael's partners for marketing the armor in the US, had asked the US Congress to allocate $45 million to finance US Army procurement of the armor in the 2005 fiscal year.

Ben-Hanan said that chances were good that Congress would approve the request in full, despite budgetary pressures, in view of the escalating armed opposition to the US in Iraq, and the proven effectiveness of the armor.

GDATP sources said that the company was manufacturing 140 sets of Rafael's reactive armor under two contracts: 80 sets for $23.5 million under one contract, and 60 sets for $17 million under the other.

An IDF officer told "Defense News" that he regretted that budgetary constraints had delayed efforts to upgrade M113 APCs with Rafael reactive armor.